" He
had been persuaded that his own plan for a Bank, suggested a year
earlier, was not feasible.
Biddle now made a supreme mistake. Misled in some degree
unquestionably by the optimistic McLane, he got the idea that Jackson
was weakening, that the Democrats were afraid to take a stand on the
subject until after the election, and that now was the strategic time
to strike for a new charter. In this belief he was further encouraged
by Clay, Webster, and other leading anti-Administration men, as well
as by McDuffie, a Calhoun supporter and chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee of the House. There was small doubt that a bill for a new
charter could be carried in both branches of Congress. Jackson must
either sign it, argued Biddle's advisers, or run grave risk of losing
Pennsylvania and other commercial States whose support was necessary
to his election. On the other hand, Biddle was repeatedly warned that
an act for a new charter would be vetoed. He chose to press the issue
and on January 9, 1832, the formal application of the Bank for a
renewal of its charter was presented to Congress, and within a few
weeks bills to recharter were reported in both Houses.
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